Have I mentioned what's happening this week? I know I've mentioned lots of goodbyes, final days and sayonara parties, buy I think I've neglected to say what I'm doing next, or at least where I'm going next. Which would seem to be a rather important detail. To me, at least. So although it seems odd to me that I've not been foaming at the mouth to tell everyone constantly, I think I know why I haven't done so. For a long while my plans have been up in the air, tempered by an air of indecision that at times has more resembled a rather suffocating plastic bag. But in the end I decided and then I became caught up in goodbyes. Not just in goodbyes to foreign friends who are leaving, but moreso in goodbyes to this town that I've grown to consider my home. I am starting to look forward to what's coming next, and will do moreso once I've finished packing up (or throwing out) the debris of current life.
Life in Katsuyama is at times like being in a 1950's dreamworld. Where everyone speaks Japanese. Unlike friends in some other towns I haven't been troubled by staring people or rude responses to my foreign-ness. Indeed, even the pensioners in my town are friendly and warm. I never thought I'd grow used to the pace of country life, but I enjoy the time that people have to chat or even share a greeting. It would be easy to suggest that this is just because I am foreigner and people are curious, and yes, I'm sure some are. But people aren't obtrusively curious. That happens in other places, but rarely here.
I remember being 4 and 5 years old and going to the shops at the end of the road with my Ma. She knew everyone she would pass in the street and she would talk to everyone at the shops, whether it was just a few quick words or catching up on something that has happened. Well, that's how life is here. If you have the time people will be friendly- this was proven to me moreso than ever when I recently used the expressway and on getting off at Ochiai, I ended up having a 20 minute conversation with the man collecting the toll fees. My new life will, I think, be very different. I will probably be able to get what I wanted when I first came to Japan- the city life, the music, the youth culture. But to be honest, I'm not sure I want these things so badly anymore. Well, I can't complain- my 2 years here have been better in many ways than I could have hoped for, but the next year depends on my attitude. I am going to a place where I already have good friends who I value and hopefully a new worklife will provide many different challenges.
Oh, I still haven't said where I'm going. I'm off to Tokyo.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Around the school...
Before I came to Japan for a holiday in 2003, I was rather excited about what the plants would be like. My mind held images resembling an alien planet- crazily exotic colours and patterns, bizarre foliage and all sorts. And when I got here I found out that although the insects are from an entirely different planet, the plants are pretty much identical to the ones at home. Which makes sense given that the climate is similar. So I felt stupid. But there are still some beautiful things growing all over the place. I took these pictures in the grounds of the Junior High school- many of the flowers below were growing wild and a few were entirely new to me. Thanks to Hatsumoto sensei for showing me some of the rarer ones (the screwflowers for example).
Purples flowers rock.
Purples flowers rock.
Friday, July 28, 2006
JoyFull goodbyes.
This was the first of the JoyFull goodbyes. We said goodbye to Bec on 12th July in Takahashi's JoyFull where we hoped to be served by the waitress with the voice like a foghorn, and, while deep in conversation about "which character we were in Sex and the City", the hot waiter/ manager sidled up to me to take our order just as I was unintentionally hollering the word "SEX!!!". How to win friends and influence people part 3,908,142... Bye bye Bec!
The 17th of July was goodbye to Adam. Danielle's and my desire for dessert drove us from kaiten sushi to JoyFull, and we were so driven I forgot to take the photo before we ate the desert. I was possibly also distracted by the hot waiter/ manager and was hoping if I shouted "sex" repeatedly he would reappear somewhere close by. It didn't work. Desperation is never attractive.
Bye bye Adam!
And so on the 21st of July, Gretchen-Maria and I said "au revoir" (cause we're, like, dead sophisticated, right?) in JoyFull Ochiai, where the waitress whose haircut I had previously complimented became our best friend for the evening. This was our umpteenth attempt at a photo by the drinks bar- please marvel at the classy selection. I am favouring Melon soda with a splash of white water, while Gretchen-Maria demonstrates the shimmering beauty of Natchan and White Water. And I appear to developing a pillow-like breast across my chest. Doctor! You said those hormones would make something else grow!
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Final Finales
Well at last it seems the leaving dos are over. It was getting a bit much there for a while, but at last my liver can take a well earned break. Almost. I've still got one week left in this town and at least 2 karaoke dates to go to, so who knows where it will all end up, but for now the official leaving parties are finished.
Last week really was the peak for me as well. On Monday I met up with Adam to go running in the afternoon and take in the inaka highlands of Yoshikawa, and later Gretchen-Maria, Danielle and I had a final sayonara with Adam in Takahashi where we started at kaiten sushi before heading to JoyFull for their delicious desserts.
Tuesday was a more sedate night where, after having last classes at school I went to Jeremy's for dinner which was actually cooked by Christine. And what with her being half Italian I had high expectations which were more than met.
The week's rain continued with gusto when approximately 260mm of rain fell over 24 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday. This caused havic across the country and meant the kids couldn't come to school as landslides were happening everywhere and the local trains are about as sturdy as a pensioner on an ice-rink. It also meant that there was no closing ceremony at school and I never got to officially say goodbye to the kids, but we still had my staff leaving do in the evening which was sad and fun, and of course ended in... karaoke! The karaoke bar was funny. Performance on each song was rated, and if you scored 89 you won a bottle of whisky. So I had 2 tries. I scored 88 on the first go and 90 on the second. So the hostess gave me a bottle of wine anyway. Thank you! And thanks to the staff at school for a lovely leaving and 2 years of warm friendly greetings!
Thursday night saw another big drinking do when I met with members of the young businessman's group for whom I'd done a teaching session in March. We ate at a gorgeous fish restaurant before ending up in... karaoke.
Friday night was a slightly more sober night where Gretchen-Maria met in Ochiai Joyfull (except we almost didn't because, aside from the expressway, ALL the local roads between her home and mine had been blocked by landslides. Damn this never ending rainy season!). Deciding to express our true Ghetto-ality we spent 4 hours in Joyfull making the most of the drinks bar and not leaving till half past midnight.
The hardest sayonara came on Saturday with Nao-chan's party. Chad came from Onomichi and we started with a trip to Kanba no taki, the waterfall with the swarms of monkeys in Katsuyama. Except the swarms of monkeys had all gone away leaving only 1 slighlty raggedy effort that had a big clump of hair missing from his back. Ouch. Even the salamander was gone. It was rather bizarre.
Nao chan's party started at 7 and the usual culprits were there- Kiyoe chan, Kayo chan, Minoru san, Sachiko chan and her kids (who I teach) and Yumiko chan and her kids (who I teach). Plus Kanae san, Papa san and of course Oji san. We were all drunk in about 45 minutes. Except of course for the children who didn't bat an eyelid. Drinking is such a major part of life here that no-one seems too worried. Indeed, we all went out and lit fireworks while we were a bit trolleyed. All the ladies brought a dish with them, so food was plentiful and we had more than enough to drink and it all became very teary at one point. Thanks Nao chan and everyone for being such good friends!
Sunday was not so much a day of rest as a day of non-functioning. But it's been 5 days since my last drink (it's probably only 1 until my next), so my head's a little clearer. For now...
Last week really was the peak for me as well. On Monday I met up with Adam to go running in the afternoon and take in the inaka highlands of Yoshikawa, and later Gretchen-Maria, Danielle and I had a final sayonara with Adam in Takahashi where we started at kaiten sushi before heading to JoyFull for their delicious desserts.
Tuesday was a more sedate night where, after having last classes at school I went to Jeremy's for dinner which was actually cooked by Christine. And what with her being half Italian I had high expectations which were more than met.
The week's rain continued with gusto when approximately 260mm of rain fell over 24 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday. This caused havic across the country and meant the kids couldn't come to school as landslides were happening everywhere and the local trains are about as sturdy as a pensioner on an ice-rink. It also meant that there was no closing ceremony at school and I never got to officially say goodbye to the kids, but we still had my staff leaving do in the evening which was sad and fun, and of course ended in... karaoke! The karaoke bar was funny. Performance on each song was rated, and if you scored 89 you won a bottle of whisky. So I had 2 tries. I scored 88 on the first go and 90 on the second. So the hostess gave me a bottle of wine anyway. Thank you! And thanks to the staff at school for a lovely leaving and 2 years of warm friendly greetings!
Thursday night saw another big drinking do when I met with members of the young businessman's group for whom I'd done a teaching session in March. We ate at a gorgeous fish restaurant before ending up in... karaoke.
Friday night was a slightly more sober night where Gretchen-Maria met in Ochiai Joyfull (except we almost didn't because, aside from the expressway, ALL the local roads between her home and mine had been blocked by landslides. Damn this never ending rainy season!). Deciding to express our true Ghetto-ality we spent 4 hours in Joyfull making the most of the drinks bar and not leaving till half past midnight.
The hardest sayonara came on Saturday with Nao-chan's party. Chad came from Onomichi and we started with a trip to Kanba no taki, the waterfall with the swarms of monkeys in Katsuyama. Except the swarms of monkeys had all gone away leaving only 1 slighlty raggedy effort that had a big clump of hair missing from his back. Ouch. Even the salamander was gone. It was rather bizarre.
Nao chan's party started at 7 and the usual culprits were there- Kiyoe chan, Kayo chan, Minoru san, Sachiko chan and her kids (who I teach) and Yumiko chan and her kids (who I teach). Plus Kanae san, Papa san and of course Oji san. We were all drunk in about 45 minutes. Except of course for the children who didn't bat an eyelid. Drinking is such a major part of life here that no-one seems too worried. Indeed, we all went out and lit fireworks while we were a bit trolleyed. All the ladies brought a dish with them, so food was plentiful and we had more than enough to drink and it all became very teary at one point. Thanks Nao chan and everyone for being such good friends!
Sunday was not so much a day of rest as a day of non-functioning. But it's been 5 days since my last drink (it's probably only 1 until my next), so my head's a little clearer. For now...
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Public relations.
No, this isn't going to be a double-entendre laden post about George Michael and the dirty old trucker. It is, instead, about the -ahem- "wonders" of nature...
"My what a attractively coloured dragon fly", I thought as I leaned closer in to look at the beautiful insect that had fluttered onto a leaf in front of me. Friday afternoon had been a bit boring, so this was a very welcome distraction. And for a few lovely, peaceful moments I was able to get close enough to have a good look at the creature before me.
Until it decided to get up close and personal with a yellow dragonfly that was hovering close by.
Now don't get me wrong, this isn't the first I've seen animals and insects having relations (not together of course- a dog and a wasp would only end in disaster, maybe a sting on the lipstick or a stripey doberman with a stubby stinger), but this was just bizarre. Appearing to go top-to-tail this rampant couple buzzed about erratically for a seemingly endless spell as I wandered what exactly to do with myself. If someone had approached me, what could I say- "Chris sensei, what are you doing?", "me? I'm just watching some insect sex." But it was too odd to walk away from.
And then it became even stranger.
As the couple parted, the yellow dragonfly started firing something (I assume eggs- it didn't look enough like a gangster to make me suspect anything else) into the water-filled drain beneath it. At which point I decided that nature was simply too weird and some things should only ever been seen on wildlife shows where they have an explanatory commentary.
"My what a attractively coloured dragon fly", I thought as I leaned closer in to look at the beautiful insect that had fluttered onto a leaf in front of me. Friday afternoon had been a bit boring, so this was a very welcome distraction. And for a few lovely, peaceful moments I was able to get close enough to have a good look at the creature before me.
Until it decided to get up close and personal with a yellow dragonfly that was hovering close by.
Now don't get me wrong, this isn't the first I've seen animals and insects having relations (not together of course- a dog and a wasp would only end in disaster, maybe a sting on the lipstick or a stripey doberman with a stubby stinger), but this was just bizarre. Appearing to go top-to-tail this rampant couple buzzed about erratically for a seemingly endless spell as I wandered what exactly to do with myself. If someone had approached me, what could I say- "Chris sensei, what are you doing?", "me? I'm just watching some insect sex." But it was too odd to walk away from.
And then it became even stranger.
As the couple parted, the yellow dragonfly started firing something (I assume eggs- it didn't look enough like a gangster to make me suspect anything else) into the water-filled drain beneath it. At which point I decided that nature was simply too weird and some things should only ever been seen on wildlife shows where they have an explanatory commentary.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Julia's leaving do:
a photographic retrospective.
Oh my God, we are SOOO crazy. We are the CRAZY BUNCH! SOOO CRAZY! *please note sarcastic tone* Print Club (or purikura) is lots of fun though...
Oh my God, we are SOOO crazy. We are the CRAZY BUNCH! SOOO CRAZY! *please note sarcastic tone* Print Club (or purikura) is lots of fun though...
The tale of the Julia's-leaving-do-that-wasn't-just-for-Julia-but-later-on-was-just-for-Julia party is a long one which will be told through the medium of photography.
Saturday 15th July:
1) After starting with KERRAAAZZZY print club pictures we went for dinner at Thai Mirch, the restaurant that smote someone down or something except it didn't because it was all a fantastical lie and the food's damn good.
2) The gimmick? Most of us were in traditional Japanese dress.
Fearing that our kidnapping escapades are in danger of being discovered, Gretchen-Maria and Betsy attempt to blend in with the locals. Unfortunately their hair is too dark. Gah! Although Genetically-Modified Gretchen-Maria is dressed like a housewife with an alcohol problem, so she could well slip past the Police radar...
By this point we'd lost Julia, and most of our dignity and ended up dancing in the Aussie Bar. It's like an Irish bar that's not in Ireland- the walls are filled with Aussie memorabilia, license plates, old bits of crap and Aussie beer posters. In this picture Bob is clearly enjoying the feeling of not actually feeling like he's at home in Aussie.
By 4am it was time for a bit of culture, so our gaggle of grotty gaijin (we'd accumulated about 14 people by this time) headed to Korakuen to see the lotus flower opening ceremony. This beautiful, gentle ceremony was thus punctuated by Betsy passing out of the grass, the repeated questioning of "what's going on? What are we looking at?", and Barbie's apparent attempts to contact the other world by shouting Maurissa's name as loudly as she could when Maurissa was approximately 20 yards away. D'oh...
And finally by 5:30, with only Amy, Herb, Betsy (she'd woken up), Bob and I left from the gaijin crew, the flowers had opened. Ah, lovely. So we left straight away and waited outside McDonalds for it to open. It seemed the only fitting way to end such an eclectic evening of booze, dancing and traditional culture.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Sayonara 2006: Parts 3- 2,979,242
Yes, it's never ending. Rather like the current *STORM WARNING* rain that we're having. As the rain floods the rivers, claims the roads (via landslide, not deed poll) and washes away bridges and grannies alike, we continue to say goodbye. But not to bridges and grannies. Although if we knew the grannies we surely would. But we don't. At least not as yet. Anyway...
Last week was another busy goodbye week with sad moments a-plenty. Possibly the saddest moment came on Tuesday when the visiting homestay student spent 2 hours moaning about the food and telling me the plots of films I've no interest in at my eikaiwa (English conversation class ) leaving bash. I was rather miffed as there were many people I wanted to talk to and thank, rather than listen to tales of bowling balls in Tom Hanks films. In fact I was so miffed I turned to drink (it's been around 6 weeks since I touched a drop) but soon I was rescued and the night went on to be a success. The people from Eikaiwa gave me a very nice leaving present (cash, dollar, bling) and one member even gave me Japanese Jinbei- a kind of pyjamas that people wear out to festivals, but also wear as pyjamas. Very cool in both meanings of the word. And then Kapo chan, Shoko chan, Hiroko chan and Tomo chan and I headed for a late night karaoke experience. You can never have too much karaoke. NEVER! Thank you eikaiwa people! I'll miss you!
The next day was my last visit to the smallest elementary school in Okayama where the Principal and I had a special lunch together and the kids directed the games that would make up the final English lesson. The other teacher and I won all the games with a rather unfortunate amount of glee. More burn-in-hell points accrued, I think. And in the evening we had a goodbye meal for Bec at JoyFull in Takahashi, where Danielle, Gretchen-Maria (formerly Nickname Pending), Bec and I chowed down on selections from the bizarre summer menu- treacle and soy-bean powder shaved ice dessert anyone? Fortunately it didn't taste as it looked- it looked like dessicated doo-doo but tasted great. I think there have been too many hyphens in this paragraph so we'll start a new one.
On Thursday I spent my last day at elementary school (ever? Who knows what the future holds...) where the teachers who had been at the school for only 3 months were actually sadder to say goodbye to than the ones I've worked with for 2 years. Although in truth my mood couldn't have been bitchier as I was working on minimal sleep and one teacher's attempts at English were grating my last nerve even though he was trying to be nice. Hot damn, he was being bloody irritating!
And then the weekend. The sayonara party that Julia organised that was a sayonara party for everyone except that the more Julia had to drink, the more it became her party. But it was a good do. Pictures will follow to explain the night. But guess what- we went to karaoke again...
Last week was another busy goodbye week with sad moments a-plenty. Possibly the saddest moment came on Tuesday when the visiting homestay student spent 2 hours moaning about the food and telling me the plots of films I've no interest in at my eikaiwa (English conversation class ) leaving bash. I was rather miffed as there were many people I wanted to talk to and thank, rather than listen to tales of bowling balls in Tom Hanks films. In fact I was so miffed I turned to drink (it's been around 6 weeks since I touched a drop) but soon I was rescued and the night went on to be a success. The people from Eikaiwa gave me a very nice leaving present (cash, dollar, bling) and one member even gave me Japanese Jinbei- a kind of pyjamas that people wear out to festivals, but also wear as pyjamas. Very cool in both meanings of the word. And then Kapo chan, Shoko chan, Hiroko chan and Tomo chan and I headed for a late night karaoke experience. You can never have too much karaoke. NEVER! Thank you eikaiwa people! I'll miss you!
The next day was my last visit to the smallest elementary school in Okayama where the Principal and I had a special lunch together and the kids directed the games that would make up the final English lesson. The other teacher and I won all the games with a rather unfortunate amount of glee. More burn-in-hell points accrued, I think. And in the evening we had a goodbye meal for Bec at JoyFull in Takahashi, where Danielle, Gretchen-Maria (formerly Nickname Pending), Bec and I chowed down on selections from the bizarre summer menu- treacle and soy-bean powder shaved ice dessert anyone? Fortunately it didn't taste as it looked- it looked like dessicated doo-doo but tasted great. I think there have been too many hyphens in this paragraph so we'll start a new one.
On Thursday I spent my last day at elementary school (ever? Who knows what the future holds...) where the teachers who had been at the school for only 3 months were actually sadder to say goodbye to than the ones I've worked with for 2 years. Although in truth my mood couldn't have been bitchier as I was working on minimal sleep and one teacher's attempts at English were grating my last nerve even though he was trying to be nice. Hot damn, he was being bloody irritating!
And then the weekend. The sayonara party that Julia organised that was a sayonara party for everyone except that the more Julia had to drink, the more it became her party. But it was a good do. Pictures will follow to explain the night. But guess what- we went to karaoke again...
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
There's something in the fog...
Sometimes I wonder if my town was built on a leper colony using stolen gold, and fear that I must drive away before midnight and not return before one. But it's only on those days when the fog rolls in...
Monday, July 17, 2006
Sayonara 2006: Part 2
Karaoke is a mystical force. People arrive innocently hoping for a night of fun and pleasure, and start choosing their favourite songs, looking forward to that moment when they start to sing and their friends join in and everyone feels warmed by the bond of familiarity.
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